abby kiesa is our guest, and then we hear from a political science professor of columbia university with a preview of tomorrow's debate between president obama and mitt romney, with robert erikson. "washington journal" wednesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> president obama and mitt romney are wrapping up their preparations for their first debate. mr. romney in denver and president obama in henderson, nevada. we look at the c-span archival video from past presidential debates to determine whether presidential debates still matter. this hour-long program begins with an update from wall street journal correspondent laura meckler, with how the candidates are preparing for tomorrow night. >> laura meckler, as we look at the first of three presidential debates, this one taking place on the campus of the university of denver, this has been the debate season of expectation by the obama and romney campaigns. what has happened? >> the expectations are being set on two different levels. you have the obama and romney campaigns talking about how great the other guy is. the people in the obama c